Seven people injured in lates SE Maluku unrest

By Budiman Moerdijat

AMBON, Maluku (JP): Clashes between Muslims and Christians in the Southeast Maluku capital of Tual, about 500 kilometers southeast of here, continued on Saturday, when at least seven people were injured. The incident followed Friday's violence which killed at least three people, witnesses and hospital staff said.

Sukiman, a staff member at the emergency ward of Tual General Hospital, told The Jakarta Post by phone that six people suffering from bullet wounds were admitted to the hospital on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Father Agus Ulahayanan said from Hati Kudus Hospital in the nearby area of Langgur that another man was admitted to the hospital later in the afternoon.

Agus said security personnel shot the man when he refused to surrender his weapon during a search operation near the Sion Church on Saturday afternoon.

"One man injured by an arrow in the violence on Friday is still also being treated at the hospital," Agus said.

An officer at Tual police station, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told the Post by phone that Saturday's violence erupted at 1:30 p.m. in the old city areas of Kuburan Cina and Petak Duapuluh.

"Muslims and Christians were battling with crude weapons and fuel bombs in the areas," he said, adding the security personnel fired shots to disperse the crowd.

"The violence is subsiding but the city is still tense now," he said.

Maluku Military Commander Col. Karel Ralahalu told reporters here earlier in the day the renewed communal clashes erupted in Tual on Friday afternoon, in which at least three people were confirmed killed and 29 more wounded by machetes, arrows, Molotov cocktails and gunshots.

Nona Notanubun, head of Tual General Hospital, said that Age Renhoran was died from slash wounds while Solikin Suminto and an unidentified man died from bullet wounds.

"Age and Solikin were already dead when they arrived at the hospital and we found a bullet in Solikin's mouth," Nona told the Post from Tual.

Nona conceded the actual death toll could be higher as not all victims of the violence were brought to the hospital, which is located in a Christian enclave. Muslims who were injured were instead taken to the mosque, Nona said.

Karel said security personnel were still planning to demarcate Tual to separate Muslims and Christians to prevent unrest from spreading to other areas.

Karel, who returned from Tual on Friday, said at least one person had been arrested for allegedly inciting the unrest.

Tual and other nearby areas have been shaken by violent clashes between Muslims and Christians which have killed at least 130 people since March 31.

More than 300 people were killed in Maluku in communal clashes which first erupted in the provincial capital in mid-January and then spread to other areas.

Karel said that nearly 10,000 troops, including a number of reinforcement battalions from Java, have been deployed to end the violence and will remain in the riot-torn province until June 11.